Google goes at least one step farther than most search engines. Google evaluates continuum of linking relationships within internet. The links that come into your site an links that come out of your site as well as links which come into and go out from other web sites with data related to your web site. The links that make up this mix must be utilizing relevant keywords and be comprised of high quality websites.

To do your best to win this link popularity game, following tips are good rules of thumb.

Do not link with sites just for sake of having links.

Do not link with sites that are made up mostly of affiliate links.

Do not comprise your site mostly of affiliate links.

Do not link with any site without carefully looking at content of sites they are linked to.

Do not allow just anyone to link to your site.

Do keep a sitelifelong activity of setting up quality reciprical links.

Do continually explore sites you are linked to.

Do continually explore sites linked to you.

If your listings don't pull as well initially as you hope, don't worry; you can always tweak them until you achieve desired results.

Finally, carefully select URL where your listing will point; in other words, your landing page. This doesn't have to be your "home" page - oftentimes, it's better if it's NOT your home page. Instead, consider linking to page that contains content/product/service related to keyword for which you're bidding.

Don't make your visitors jump through hoops; give them what they're searching for as soon as they click to your site if possible. For each additional step in process, you're losing a certain percentage of visitors. Granted, there are legitimate reasons to have visitors navigate a series of pages. Your goal is to eliminate *unnecessary* clicks.

Now that you have basics covered, where will you open your PPC account?

I recommend GoTo (http://www.goto.com). There is a $0.05 bid minimum and a $20.00 minimum monthly spend, but volume of traffic generated can be significantly greater than traffic from other PPC engines. GoTo Premium Listings (top 1, 2, and 3 spots) appear as search results on America Online, Lycos, Netscape, AltaVista and other large sites.

Here's a list of a few other pay-per-click engines you might want to consider:

FindWhat.com (http://www.findwhat.com) Sprinks (http://www.sprinks.com) Kanoodle.com (http://www.kanoodle.com) Brainfox.com (http://www.brainfox.com) Bay9 (http://www.bay9.com)

Once your campaign begins, it's important to monitor its progress. Since your rankings are based on bidding, you don't want to be outbid and lose traffic. The other side of coin is you don't want to pay more than you should for your ranking.

For example, let's say you have #3 spot for a keyword and you're paying $0.10. The #4 spot is going for $0.09, while #5 spot costs a mere $0.05. If, for whatever reason, #4 drops out of listings, you're still occupying #3 spot BUT you're overpaying by $0.04/click (you could maintain your #3 rank with a $0.06 bid). Not a huge amount, but with hundreds of listings, it's easy to see how it can add up over time.

That should be enough information to get you started on your PPC campaign. Now that you know basics, what are you waiting for? A PPC campaign could be just shot in arm your site needs!